Related Media

GRANBY – The Middle Park Panther girls basketball team pulled off a 61-39 win against rival West Grand Mustangs on Tuesday, Dec. 17.

Hailley Pedersen led with the first two points for the Panthers. The game remained tied 4-4 going into the first period, when during the timeout, head coach Diane Bickler of the Middle Park Panthers told team members, “Keep your composure, and slow down.”

Mary Acord fired a long shot to score the first 3-pointer of the game for Middle Park. In the first period, two explosive lay ups by Hailley Pedersen put the Panthers in a comfortable lead of 15-8. The second quarter began in a flurry. Within minutes the score was 23-8.

The West Grand Mustangs rallied to come back from a loss of points, making the score 29-17, with 2:45 to go in the first half. The Panthers’ O’Connor scored the last two points before the half-time buzzer, the score 32-20.

Head coach of the West Grand Mustangs, Davin Boydstun, said to his players at half time, “slow the ball down, calm down, and play our game.” However the words of Bodystun weren’t enough, with a Panther highlight of Acord stealing the ball and making a two-point layup. The end of the third quarter came quickly to an end as the Mustangs rallied for the fourth quarter.

However the Panthers took the win 61-39.

Following the game, Boydstun said his players were going to work on “precision.”

“We’ve got to be more precise,” he said. “We can’t have the turnovers and the mistakes.”

Bickler spoke similarly, saying the Panthers also needed to work on turnovers.

“We have to slow our turnovers down...The girls will be really focusing on that for the next couple weeks.”